Remember how when you sorta grew out of Halloween, there were still times when you were able to throw together a costume with items you had on hand, because at the last minute someone would convince you to dress up? This can work for a baby or toddler costume, too.

The one above was inspired by a visit to the Zynga office when they launched a Facebook game called ChefVille!

Back in 2009, when I first met my now husband, Eric, he was playing banjo for a bluegrass band in Connecticut; one of our first weekends together he took me to see a show, and the leader of the band said, “You better not take him back to Long Island for good!” We had just started dating, so it was slightly embarrassing…but low and behold, 5 months later we moved in together, on Long Island.

Five years later, we decided it was time to head back to the vineyard and see the old band; luckily, our visit to Connecticut was during the Harvest Festival! We were excited to introduce Weston to everyone, eat some BBQ, and see pumpkins. On the ride to the vineyard it dawned on me that this was the perfect time to complete Rookie Moms challenge #36, take a pumpkin photo! Heather and Whitney claim that you can’t take a bad photo in a pumpkin patch, and I’m going to one-up them and claim that you can’t take a bad photo in the Autumn! The green grass, the leaves, the perfect setting sun…everyone looks their best (even with BBQ sauce all over their face!).

Mommy’s Little Extrovert

Weston was a dream baby in the long car ride, and once we got out at the vineyard, his eyes opened wide: children, pumpkins, llamas! We met up with Eric’s old band, and it felt wonderful to finally introduce the little one to people who knew us back when we were newly dating. We planted ourselves right near the band and got some delicious pulled pork to eat for lunch. Weston happily sat in his stroller, pushed up against the table (highchair hack), and when the band started to play, he clapped and shouted like a regular!

However, the poor kid nearly lost his mind when Daddy unzipped his gig bag and took out his banjo. Weston started yelling, “gra! gra!” (Which, I think means guitar and is his word for any instrument?). He struggled to get out of his stroller, and when Eric started playing with the band, little monster boy ran right up to his dad on stage! Everyone in the harvest festival thought he was hysterical, and when Weston danced, everyone danced with him! Talk about raising an extrovert…

Stop and Eat the Flowers

After Eric played a few songs with the band, we all went to visit the llamas together. Weston got to pet them, and kept looking back at me with “this is not a dog?” eyes. Since there wasn’t an actual pumpkin patch to wade through, we made the most of the large green field of pumpkins out and about.

Weston thought it would be a good idea to go over to a pumpkin and play, but when I looked back at him, he had a flower in his mouth. The poor little purple leaves sticking out; he made a disgusted face, and I nodded, yes, that is disgusting. We did get him finally, to sit and take a lovely Fall photo with the pumpkin…it took a little prodding, but now we have photographic evidence of our wonderful autumn afternoon. And, really, does life even happen if you don’t have photographic evidence to post on Instagram? I think not.

[All photos: Olivia Lovely Howell]

Find more baby activities for any season with the 52 weekly rookie mom challenges.

If you’re already participating, use hashtag #rookiemoms on instagram or twitter so we can cheer each other on.

Since I can still fit into my 9th grade cheerleading outfit (that’s a brag, not a humble brag), I have used it more than once on Halloween to coordinate with my son’s football player costume. I bet some of you would like to dress up in partnership with your babes as well.

Here are 7 ideas for mom and baby costumes:

Olive Oyl and Sweet Pea from Popeye

Find Swee’Pea on Amazon and Olive Oyl on Amazon. Also available in Plus Sizes.

If Dad wants to get in on this family costume, he can click on this Popeye costume. Swee’pea seems to be mostly held by Popeye in the cartoons anyway.

Star Wars. Heather already declared her love for Princess Leia as a mom costume, which both masks a post-partum belly and allows kids of any age to be Luke Skywalker (white kimono-style top) or any number of other Star Wars personality. So what if Leia and Yoda never actually interact in the legends? This day is about fantasy.

Her costume above is courtesy of BuyCostumes.com. Order placed by 4 pm get shipped same day.

The sports theme I referred to could be accomplished a number of ways.

Baby as football; mom as football player, referee, or cheerleader. This one is from etsy, but you can make it with a brown onesie and white tape or fabric paint.

Alternatively, baby can be a football player with a souvenir jersey and the right color leggings. Add black face paint under the eyes.

Order a referee shirt here. (Just add black pants. The whole thing they want to sell women as a referee costume is offensive. Of course, Sexy Referee! There’s also a teen version with a mini skirt. What?)

For Muppet fans, I kinda like baby as Kermit and mom as Miss Piggy, but I’m not wild about the way the Miss Piggy store-bought costume looks. A bigger mom would rock a Hollywood-style dress with Miss Piggy glamour style than the lady in this picture, so let’s forget about her and envision Adele instead.

Your 36th weekly challenge is a seasonal photo assignment. You can’t take a bad picture in a pumpkin patch. Good assignment, right? Find a pumpkin patch. Go. Take pictures. Where we live, you can get a good old fashioned farm for a half-day outing, a street corner covered over in hay, or a mound taller than a man at the neighborhood grocery store (this is true, we made a whole guide to East Bay pumpkin patches). Your future self won’t be able to tell the difference.

For wee babies experiencing their first Halloween, I think the baby carrier costume is the most practical (that is, if you leave the house). Your baby is cozy and snug against you and you have your hands free.

Here are a few adorable sling costumes to try:

Watermelon: Have an hour and a red or green sling? You can try this watermelon costume. More sling costume ideas like race car, peacock and pumpkin pie from Mammas Milk.

Other carrier costumes:

Popcorn. Kate from This Place Is Now A Home made a white and red striped popcorn container out of felt and simply wrapped it around the Baby Bjorn she wore. But not before attaching real popcorn to her son’s cap. Is this not the cutest family costume?

The Hangover: We love what Karen, Ross and baby Laz did as the characters from the Hangover. Dad plays Zach Galifianakis with sunglassed infant in the BabyBjorn and Mom as Ed Helms character. Million laughs.

Total Recall (Kuato & George): Nothing gets Daddy to carry the baby for Halloween like a costume inspired by a classic Schwarzenegger movie’s mutant death scene, right? (Wait, was that sexist?) Bonus that it’s comfy for parent and child! Check out our pal Roberto and his baby:

Flower pot and gardener: Within the span of a few naptimes, you can pull off this costume and amaze your friends. Jess Gonzalez provides instructions on instructables.

Lobster in a pot:Technically, this baby is in a carrier, albeit a thoroughly impractical one. Fantastically cute from our friends at Parents Resources and More.

I wanted to make a huge iPhone that could be used as a costume on Halloween by attaching it to a stroller or car seat. My daughter was my helper, so she got to be the first model for the finished product, even though she is too big for a stroller.

Materials needed:

Piece of foam core – sold at a craft store or office supply store, usually 30 x 20, about $5. I asked in the frame department at Michael’s and they had larger pieces in the back.

Box cutter – I call a big utility knife a “box cutter” but while I was working on this, my parents kept calling it an Exacto knife, so see the picture below to get my drift.

When I set out on this project I believed that the key to the board looking like an iPhone was to get the ratio of height to width — and the proportions of the screen — exactly right, so I prepared to do some serious 7th grade math to figure it out for you. Once I researched the size of the iPhone and saw how many variations there are (iPhone 4/5/6) I realized that the exact measurements are not SUPER important, but you can just do what I did and it will certainly look like a recognizable mobile phone.

In other words, simply cut 4.5 inches off the width. And then cut the corners to be rounded.

I drew my lines straight by using a Sharpie on the back side of the board and then used the box cutter to make the slices as needed.

Next cut the screen out.

The screen is centered on this type of phone, so it’s pretty easy. Measure 5.5″ from the top and the bottom and one inch in from the sides. Use a ruler again to draw a large rectangle for the screen on the back side of the board.

The edges may be a bit jaggedy because of the inner foam material. Hiding them with a border of silver tape helps.

Next, you need the details on the front of the phone. I used a short juice glass to trace a circle for the home button. The curved-edge box inside the round home button was made out of silver Duck Tape-brand tape that I cut free-hand. You could just use a pencil.

I modeled my camera lens and speaker details on my sister’s iPhone 4 after looking at my own iPhone 5 and thinking hers looked more iconic. The sideways thermometer shape (know what I mean?) that represents the speaker/camera is about 5 inches long. I did a practice drawing of that on the backside before drawing it with pencil on the front.

Now that your posterboard resembles a phone, figure out how you will attach it to the stroller. Zip ties will work, but once it’s on, it will be difficult to take on and off. I used a piece of ribbon on each side.

A question we’ve received from readers more than once is this: What type of paint is safe for painting my pregnant belly?

Well, this confirms there are tons of women out there as weird as I am.

However, I’m not a dermatologist or even a paintologist, so I am usually hesitant to make a guess, even to share what seems like common sense, because what if I’m wrong and you get a rash and your baby comes out with rainbow stripes? I don’t want that level of responsibility.

When I saw this Pregnancy Belly Painting Kit — I think it was used at a Mom 2.0 event, I thought I should share it. Someone has done the research to figure out a formula that will paint on skin and not hurt anyone.

It’s about twenty bucks and has 8 colors in it, plus some helpful instructions inside.

This video shows more of the belly painting that happened before I took the picture at the top of this post. I’m in the video, too! (I have no relationship with the company – just got a chance to see the bellies!)

BuyCostumes offered me the chance to review any costume of my choice. I want to thank them for helping me realize a dream.

I immediately wanted to become Princess Leia! I figured that as the mom of three young boys this costume would come in handy over and over again (I can be my own birthday party entertainment, a hit at the annual preschool party, and the princess of my minivan). Options included Sexy Leia and Slave Leia but Whitney helped me decide that Standard Princess Leia was the most appropriate for my life.

As soon as the box arrived, I ripped it open and started playing with the costume. Once the cinnamon-bun wig was in place I set up my phone for R2D2-style selfies, “Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!” Whitney offered to take a few of me and my sidekick the next morning, which was almost soon enough.

I picked Sawyer up from preschool and told him about the big surprise waiting at home. Since he’s never seen any of the Star Wars movies, his cultural touchstone is the Weird Al song, Yoda (thanks big brothers!). He sings it here for your reference.

Do these characters even know each other?
The very next thing on my three-year old’s mind was the relationship between our characters. When I admitted that they’d never met in any of the movies, he was not pleased. Hopefully, there’s an as-yet-to-be-released part of the canon in which Yoda oversees young Leia’s safe upbringing. Since I don’t write or read fan-fiction, I agreed that our characters could be the best of friends.

The photo shoot

But what about the costumes?
The Yoda is an off-white felt-like material that’s a bit see-through. It works for a toddler but can also be squeezed onto a much older and taller brother. I suggest wearing it over pajamas. The ears are floppy pale green felt. We’re all thrilled to have this addition to our costume box. (Find Toddler Yoda on BuyCostumes)

Leia’s outfit is a one-size-fits-most baggy polyester cloak that is hiding a dark olive dress with no trouble; there is plenty of room for a post-partum pooch, a full outfit in colder climates, or spare bag of candy. The costume also includes a belt, wig, and white boot-toppers. The belt is a fully-adjustable rubbery material held on by velcro. Truth be told, the wig would probably work better on a smaller head than mine so down the road, I may upgrade to something else. For Halloween, parties, and getting extra attention on the streets, I LOVE IT. (See Princess Leia on BuyCostumes)

Pajamas are my very favorite Halloween costume base. There, I said it. For about $20 you buy something that your child can sleep in for a year — what a value! Here are a few of my favorites for this year. Buy ‘em all and never run out of ideas in your costume box!

If you’re looking for adorable costumes that totally give you your money’s worth, let me remind you about PAJAMAS! What else is comfy, cute, and wearable all year round? Here are 16 more sleepwear-costume ideas for your little one:

Skeleton. Our go-to pajama-based costume is this skeleton from Carter’s or similar from Old Navy. About $10 or $12, it never goes out of style. Not only have all five of our toddlers worn this costume, but my family’s Halloween zombie decoration wore it last year, too. It also comes in pink, but huh?

A treasure map. Let the little one be the map to buried treasure while you play an easy pirate. City Threads has other creative patterns that might sync up with your costume such as cupcakes (you a baker?) or rainbows (you a Leprechaun or storm cloud?).

Bam Pow Zoiks. This Superhero lightning pattern of comic book symbols is begging to be the sidekick to your superhero family costume. You would make a fantastic Wonder Woman, am I right? Please do it and send me a photo!

Wonder Woman. Speaking of Wonder Woman, while I don’t LOVE this Wonder Woman pajama set, it is a tasteful toddler-friendly version of my favorite superhero!

Kermit the Frog or Mike from Monster’s Inc. Take these lime green footie pajamas and add a simple accessory for an easy costume. For Kermie, make a collar and eyeballs out of felt so it looks like this. For Mike, you need a big white eyeball on the belly.

Christmas Elf. These green stripe pajamas can turn your child into a Christmas elf as soon as you find a funny elf hat. If it feels a little incomplete, you can add a DIY red vest. Boom. These jammies also work for your holiday card photo shoot which you should totally already be working on.

Pumpkin. Totally generic. I mean a classic. For about $15, your kiddo can wear these Jack O’Lantern jammies until you get sick of seeing orange. I’d probably pair with solid orange leggings or pants instead of the print. Maybe you can just throw an orange blanket over your child’s lap?

Do you have any other favorite pajamas-based costumes? What else could you add to turn jammies into a costume?

The first thing that’s fun is that BuyCostumes.com is offering 20% off. Click through this link to find princesses and ninja turtles, superheroes and tigers for babies, toddlers, kids and adults. Again, use this link to the 20% off page.

When my son was four, he was a pirate. Though you can purchase a head-to-toe pirate outfit, he was still satisfied with my half-way homemade costume projects at that time, and I saved a bit of money by outfitting him in an old black maternity shirt, belted at the waist with a scarf, over red and white striped PJ bottoms that he already owned. We made it authentic with a package of accessories. The most important bit to get your hands on is a felt child’s pirate hat, but a bandana can work as well.

We went with the red and black color scheme, bandana and all, but there’s also this brown get-up that’s as easy as adding the whole thing to your cart.

And Melissa and Doug makes this pirate costume which you might not come across because they call it “role play” so that you can use it year-round. Thanks for the permission, Melissa and Doug, but we are pretty clear that being a small child is a sufficient excuse to wear costumes year-round. I think this is the way to go if you are not a DIY costume person. Simply add black pants or PJ bottoms and perhaps black rainboots.

Next tip: Parents should dress up if they like to. Coordinating with the kids is like, the cutest thing ever. My dad absolutely hates costumes, though, so if you’re in his camp, I get it. He’s a really great dad anyway.

If Mama wants to be a pirate, wear black boots, red pants and a long black top. Wear your partner’s top if it’s bigger, and belt it. Then add accessories: patch, bandana, etc. Not a black boot owner? Consider these Pirate Lady Boot Tops.

Now if you have a willing older sibling or parent who wants to be a snowman to accompany a FROZEN princess, and is not concerned about the details, like Olaf’s wide eyes and slightly hooked nose, less expensive, generic snowman costumes can be found. This toddler snowman is $14.99 at Amazon. This one for Dad is $43. Moving on.

More bang for your buck: This combo pack of Anna + Elsa dresses will put both flavors of FROZEN in your dress-up box for about forty bucks. If you have two kids between 4 and 6, this is the deal for you.

You might also do okay in the toy aisle at Target, but the inventory is very unreliable. Let me know what you find there.

And finally, the less descriminating FROZEN fanatic may enjoy this trunk which includes an inexpensive take on both dresses, with accessories. Great gift, plus, you’re covered for Halloween. About $25 for everything you see here. Click on the image to check availability. As of this writing, free shipping for Prime members.

I came upon these printable paper dolls from Mr. Printables and shared them with Scarlett. At five, she is very into drawing, cutting, gluing, and painting. This is one of my Mommy sweet spots, so I’m thrilled with this phase.

Oh, you didn’t know? You don’t have to be good at all aspects of parenting. Hate standing around at playgrounds? Crying jags make you sweat? Floppy-headed infants bore you? Don’t know what to do with LEGOS? That’s okay. You’ll be good at something else.

Even if your child is too young to enjoy these little paper cones without eating them, I could see a mom or Grandma enjoying them on her own.

Cut them out and glue the edges into a cone shape that can stand up on it’s own.

Print the Halloween-themed clothes and accessories from this page. Scarlett felt the need to add her own embellishments to the mummy outfit with a ball-point pen.

Slide the “outfits” onto the paper dolls.

These little ladies have hair just like mine and Heather’s, red and curly on one and dark and straight on the other, so I couldn’t resist them. There’s one with darker skin and kinky hair too, so moms of color, rejoice!

We always like to make something on Mondays. See the whole list of Makin’ It posts from last year.